This article appeared in the July/August 2001 issue of
Horticulture Update, edited by Dr. Douglas F. Welsh, and produced by
Extension Horticulture, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, The Texas
A&M University System, College Station, Texas.

Do Plants And Vegetables Feel?

One of the more unusual questions received recently by
the Department of Extension Horticulture from the public was, 'Do plants and
vegetables feel?'

Dr. Frank Dainello, Professor and Extension Vegetable Specialist, gave
this reply:
'Your request for information on the subject 'Do plants
and vegetables feel?' was forwarded to me for response.

Your topic is an interesting one and can be addressed from several
points of view: religious, philosophical, or scientific. It can be
confusing, especially when man attempts to equate plant and animal life in
the same terms as human. For some reason, in today's politically correct
society, sane reasoning is in short supply. Although I have a Doctorate of
Philosophy, I am not a philosopher, and since I am no religious scholar, I
will attempt to address this topic scientifically.

As a recent infamous President of the US posed, the answer to the
question is in the definition of the words of the request. It is doubtful
that plants feel in the same manner as humans. It is true that they do not
have a nervous system. However, they do respond to experienced stimuli.
These responses are call tropisms.

For example, plants tend to grow toward or face a light source. Does
this mean they are afraid of the dark? No, it is the result of auxin or
growth-promoting chemical concentrating on the dark side of a plant which,
in turn, causes this side to grow faster than the side exposed to the
light.

Plants do respond to injury. When wounded, their respiration rate
increases just as it does initially when humans are injured. However, the
increase is due to an increase in the use of stored food reserves in an
attempt to repair the damage or to grow new cells. If the injury is too
severe, the physiological food-conversion responses are disrupted and
death occurs. Often human respiration rates increase as a result of the
mind's influence on perceived consequences from an injury or a potential
injury. Thus far, no one has been able to identify a single structure or
organ in a plant that can be equated with the human brain, the organism
responsible for human thought (some might suggest that certain cell
structures are analogous to the brain in that they control cell responses,
but that's a real stretch).

Plants such as the tomato also have been known to abort their young!
Although these abortions are often the result of stresses, they are
physiological stresses and not emotional. For instance, fruit abortion is
a defense mechanism of the plant to insure it will have sufficient water
and nutrients to be able to mature a few fruit, rather than attempt to
mature all of its fruits and cause none of them to make it. Developing
fruit have a huge water demand. As a result of water shortages due to
droughts, the plant growth is essentially shut down and fruit-drop occurs.
All plant responses are a direct effect of chemical reactions!!

A tomato is still alive when removed from the vine. Evidence for this
is its ability to develop color. If it were in a state of panic due the
trauma of being removed from the vine and the fear of being eaten, I would
suspect it would refuse or be unable to continue to mature. It would
probably just shrivel up and die, at least that would be the human
reaction.

In summary, I will utilize the Philosophy portion of my degree and
offer some opinions.

Thus far, no one has been able to document a soul or a conscience of a
tomato. Without these how can murder exist? If a plant were to have a soul
or conscience, all animals in the wild would be vicious murderers, and
deserve to be relegated to extinction in payment for their infringement on
the rights of the defenseless weaker species (plants) they eat. Oops! They
should be imprisoned for life since no being has no right to take the life
of another. Or, perhaps man should be made to experience extinction
because after all, plants and animals feel pain and suffering, and since
man causes so much of it he should be removed from the planet. It can be
easily accomplished, we just don't eat anything living, or that was once
alive!'